[sic—is
this a typo? John is said to be 5th child]
John
Montgomery born 1762
Frances
Montgomery born 1764
Rebecca Montgomery
born 1766
The parents of Hannah Patterson were opposed to the marriage it is
supposed on account of relationship or on account of the age of Hannah.
When their oldest son [William] was ten or twelve years old [1770-72],
they left Lancaster Co.,
Pa. intending to go to Abbeville district,
South Carolina.
In Guilford Co. N.C. they met two old friends, Wm. Baily and Jno. Duffy,
who induced them to stop here. The Calhoun family who were also
relatives resided here also. They settled six miles east of Guilford
Court House.*
*In
1807 the county seat moved from Martinville to the newly-created town of
Greensborough. Which one? In 1807 “there was not a dwelling in
Greensboro.”
(Greensboro, North Carolina by Arnett, 1955, Chapter 2)
(transcription of 1911 letter, continued)
“Of the children of William and Hannah Patterson
Montgomery:
Elizabeth married William Baily
Hannah married James McKnight
William married Nancy Brawley
John married 1st Martha Brawley (sisters)
Married 2nd Nancy Busick
Frances married William Buchanan
Rebecca married Thomas Aydlatt
James P. died at the age of twenty-one (unmarried) from a wound in the
arm received by carrying a scythe and cradle on horseback
Mary married Moses Hanks
David married Araminta Breeden”
[I did not transcribe further generations]
Some findings re. Guilford Co., NC
County formation info at usgenweb.com
Guilford was formed 1770 [about the time it is said that William and Hannah (Patterson)
Montgomery settled there], from Rowan and
Orange counties.
Rowan was formed 1753 from Anson. Anson was formed 1750 from Bladen.
Bladen was formed 1734 from New Hanover. New
Hanover
was formed 1729 from Craven. Craven was formed 1712; renamed from
Archdale Precinct of Bath Co. Bath was original county 1696; subdivided
1705; see also Beaufort. Beaufort formed 1712; renamed from Bath/Pamptecough.
Orange
was formed 1752 from Bladen, Granville and Johnston. Bladen formed 1734
from New Hanover (see above). Granville was formed 1746 from Edgecombe.
Edgecombe was formed 1741 from Bertie. Bertie was formed 1722 from
Chowen. Chowen was formed 1670 from Albemarle. Albemarle was original
county 1664; subdivided 1668; discontinued 1689. Johnston was formed
1746 from Craven (see above).
History of Buffalo
Presbyterian Church and Her People, Greensboro, NC
by Rev. S.M. Rankin; publ. by Jos. J. Stone & Co., Greensboro, NC
(1920’s), pp. .33-34 (Guilford Co., usgenweb)
In “Other Members of the Congregation” section: “Alexander McKnight
bought of his brother John 511 acres on the north side of Buffalo Creek
in 1759. In 1765 he sold this place to John Rankin and bought of Thomas
Donnell 393 acres on the headwaters of North Buffalo, and built the
first grist mill there…he married Hannah, daughter of Thomas Donnell,
and after his death in 1774, she married George Denny. Alexander and
Hannah McKnight’s children were Robert (1767-1841), and Jean
(1773-1841). Jean never married; Robert’s second wife was Mary, daughter
of David Wiley. They were married in 1816. The third wife was Martha
Patterson, whom he married in 1827. His children by the first
marriage were Robert, Alexander, James, Thomas and John. Robert died
unmarried; Alexander moved to Frankling County, N.C.; James married
Hannah, daughter of William Montgomery, Sr. [and his wife Hannah
(Patterson) Montgomery] and moved to Virginia; Thomas moved to New
York City; John married Anne, daughter of Samuel Allison, in 1813, and
located two miles west of Greensboro, and their children were Lydia,
Mary M., Hanna J., Elizabeth A., Rebecca and John H.
Greensboro,
North Carolina…
by Ethel Stephens Arnett, written under the direction of Walter Clinton
Jackson; publ. By Univ. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC, 1955;
chapter 2, “Early Settlements of
Guilford
County” (Guilford Co., usgenweb)
“[the earliest settlers] came [abt. 1750], by way of covered wagons,
probably following ‘The Great Philadelphia Wagon Road’ as far as they
could, then resorting to buffalo trails, and Indian paths…
These travelers have been described as an interesting procession as they
moved slowly southward from Virginia and beyond, principally
Pennsylvania…This great migration took place largely from 1750 to 1770
although some had arrived in the early 1740’s and some came as late as
1775.
Three distinct groups of these pioneers landed in the region which later
became Guilford County. They were Germans, Quakers and Scotch-Irish.
The exact date of the Scotch-Irish settlement in this locality is not
known. The first land deeds were all dated December, 1753, though some
people may have arrived earlier. For ten years before that time the
Scotch-Irish had come into Pennsylvania in such numbers that early
landholders began to fear the sturdy Scotchmen, lest they should gain
political control of that region. For that reason they instructed their
agents to sell no more land to the Scotchmen. It
was then that the old Nottingham Presbyterian Church, located at that
time in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (now at Rising Sun, Maryland,
because of changes in state lines), formed the Nottingham Company which
purchased a large tract of land for settlement in what is now Guilford
County…
In 1781 Guilford Courthouse [near to which William and Hannah
(Patterson) Montgomery were said to live] was a small village of 200 to
300 people.
Orange Co., NC land deeds
(not sure if in an area of Orange Co. which became Guilford
Co.)
13
Nov 1764 Wm Ballard/Robert Patterson 200 A – wit James Seller
(http://showcase.netin.net/web/sellerfamily/ncorang.htm)
To be
continued…..
Hi Catherine -
Here's quick note responding to your info about a Hannah Gilchrist
marrying "William Montgomery Sr." None of these folks are in my line, so
I didn't dig too deep, but here some thoughts:
(1) There are two William Montgomerys on the 1790 Guilford Co., NC
census. One could have married Hannah Patterson and one could have
married Hannah Gilchrist.
(2) Montgomery Clan info and an old letter in my possession written 1911
by a Montgomery descendant (through Hannah Patterson-Montgomery) both
list the children of Wm. Montgomery & Hannah Patterson as Elizabeth,
Hannah, William, David, John, Frances and Rebecca, which match the names
of the children in the Wm. "Mountgomery" will you have on-line.
(3) The letter from the "state genealogist" on your website also lists
these same children, but goes further and names one of the sons of
William Montgomery (son of Wm. & Hannah) and Nancy Brawley as
"Patterson" Montgomery. (Some other sources refer to this son as "James
Patterson Montgomery" which, if true, would kind of clinch it, since the
name of Hannah Patterson's father was James. At any rate, the occurence
of the name "Patterson" in this line is pretty significant, I think
(4) Therefore, at a quick glance, I would think that there probably WAS
a Hannah Gilchrist who married some other William Montgomery, but
probably was not the Hannah named as the wife in William "Mountgomery's"
1795 will.
(5) The presence of the name "Gilchrist" in land transactions and wills
connected to the Wm and Hannah Montgomery family surely isn't a
coincidence, however. What bothers me most is what you sent where it
says that Hannah Gilchrist m. William Montgomery "Sr." Surely this
refers to the William Montgomery (said to have been b. 1727 in Antrim)
whose will you found naming Hannah? Unless the "Sr" was a typo? Some
digging around in Montgomery and Gilchrist genealogy might solve the
mystery--you might find that one of William "Mountgomery's" brothers had
a son named William, and this other William might have been referred to
as "Sr." also, just because he, too, had a son named William--anyway,
another William of the same line could have married Hannah Gilchrist.
But back to (1) above: there were two different William Montgomerys
living in Guilford at the time, so both marriages (to Hannah Patterson
AND to Hannah GIlchrist could, theoretically, be true. But who knows!
Good luck and I'll be interested to know what, if anything, if are ever
able to find out about this.
Happy hunting - Janice Patterson-Rosenthal
Catherine -
We last corresponded over a month ago; I had contacted you asking your
source for some Patterson birth dates just today I was chasing
Pattersons down into Guilford Co., NC, and during the course of some
googling once again came across your website and saw there your
question: "Why would William [Buchanan] marry Catherine McCaleb in North
Carolina, and return to Pennsylvania to marry Frances Montgomery?
According to another cousin, the Montgomerys, William and Hannah Patterson,
parents of our Frances Montgomery, moved to North Carolina
from Pennsylvania shortly after they married in 1754, so their daughter,
our Frances, born circa 1764 should have been born in NC?? either she
wasn't born in PA as indicated on Ancestry or her parents didn't move to
NC until much later...."
I can help out with the answer to your question. You're right: William
and Hannah (Patterson) Montgomery did not move to NC until 1770-72. I
have in my possession a transcript of a letter written 1911 by a direct
descendant of William and Hannah (Patterson) Montgomery in which he
gives details of their move to NC. Attached is a document I typed up
containing the info you seek. It is the rough beginning of a chapter in
a much larger work in which I am tracing Pattersons who settled before
the end of the Rev. War in SW PA. (If I'm LUCKY I'll be done in about
ten years.)
I would also like to give you some primary-source info that is not
contained in the attached, in the hope that it will help you sort out
your Buchanans. As you probably know, Hannah Patterson (who m. William
Montgomery) was the daughter of James Patterson b. 1708 (prob. in Co.
Antrim). I believe James' siblings have gotten very mixed up in internet
trees, but that's another story. Back to his daughter Hannah. Hannah
had a sister named Mary, and she m. John McKnight in Lancaster Co., PA
(before many of her other siblings moved across the mountains to
Washington Co., PA about the time of the end of the Rev. War). This
marriage of Mary Patterson to John McKnight was performed by Rev. John
Cuthbertson, itinerant Covenanter minister who traveled over 90,000
miles during the course of his ministry 1751-1791. It is significant to
your genealogical pursuits, I think, that Cutherbertson performed the
marriage of Hannah's sister Mary to John McKnight, because there were
numerous Buchanans in his "flock" in Lancaster Co., PA. I thought you
would be interested in the Buchanan baptisms and marriages recorded in
his journal. (A copy can be obtained from Heritage Books. The title is
Register of Marriages and Baptisms Peformed by Rev. John Cuthbertson
by S. Helen Fields. Originally published 1934 in Washington, D.C.;
published 2001 by Heritage Books, Bowie, Maryland.)
Here's the info on Buchanans:
